In message , sweetheart wrote
Surely BG do better rates than "standard rate", even on a single fuel - but it may be an Internet only account (provide your own meter reading every 3 month on line, direct debit, paperless billing etc.)?
In message , sweetheart wrote
As a matter of interest I costed my energy usage with BG
Their best rate for single fuel was 4% cheaper than "standard rate"
Their price guaranteed rate (to 2013) was 5% more expensive than the current "standard rate"
They never offered me any and as far as comparison sites go there are none offering a cheaper rate than the standard one I had ( HAD being operative as I switched this afternoon.
However back in April BG were actually the cheapest electricity provider across the board and had been for sometime for someone like me.
In message , sweetheart writes
Well, they don't tend to offer to move you to cheaper tarrifs !
They do a cheaper online tariff, but their fixed Tariff is more expensive than their standard one.
Yup, we've been with Bg for elec for sometime as they were pretty much always the cheapest, or nearly so - ( certainly was still when I last cheaked, 6 months or so ago). but looking at the figures they aren't so much nowadays
In message , chris French wrote
Apart from guaranteed price deals which tend to attract a premium of maybe up to 10% on top of the _cheapest_ deals, comparing prices at the moment may be like comparing apples with oranges. There must be some more price rises in the pipeline from companies who have yet to declare their increases. The only valid comparison may be between companies that have indicated what their price rises will be or else you may sign up for a 6/12 month contract and find the prices from the new company are greater during the next winter.
I'm no fan of BG but for me they have been the cheapest dual fuel supplier for the past few of years (or the competitors have been with £10 so it's not worth changing)
What I dislike about this company is:
i) Unless you check on-line on a very regular basis you will not find that they have a better deal that you can change to.
ii) They make finding the actual tariff rates for your current and any possible future scheme difficult (but less difficult than some of their competitors sites). They hype up the possible savings and give you information such as a "save up to £177" BUT the figure is based on the "standard rate" and paying by cash and not on the scheme you already have. Sometimes their new scheme is no better, and maybe worse, than your current scheme.
iii) After a few years they withdraw older deals and if you are stupid enough to ignore the email you will be put on a "standard rate" tariff.
iv) They lie in emails about when you can switch (suppliers or tariffs) without occurring an early closure penalty fee. I always keep a note of the date when I can change without penalty.
Buying gas and electricity is very much like buying car insurance. If you don't check the rate you are on at least once a year the company will assume that you are some kind of idiot and allow you to pay a lot more for what you are getting.
In message , Alan writes
Well, yes 'tis ever thus really, you always need to check these things. But BG prices are certainly going up on the 18th of august. I need to check around now though as my current tariff deal ends soon
Me as well, but there will come a point when they aren't.
Indeed, I normally check a couple of times a year
That would be a logical assumption but unfortunately not necessarily true. Energy companies mostly use "confusion pricing" and you almost certaintly pay a different amount than they advertise. Ignoring the fact they will offer many different tariffs for essentially the same product, they will modify the headline price with various discounts and supplements. They will also send you bills at irregular intervals to make it even more difficult to compare.
Bizarrely I am with SSE for gas and electricity and what you say is true for electricity but the gas works out cheaper with no standing charge even if you use the minimum amount adn of course I don't in the summer.
Jonathan
I have never been confused by their pricing. It can be a pain working them out to see which is cheapest but its never difficult. (Unlike mobile phone contracts.)
You can always use confused or similar. Although they are pretty silly as they keep offering me negative savings rather than saying you are already on the cheapest we know of.
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